After our little trip by train to Kyoto and Hiroshima today was going to be a full day of Tokyo.

We slept a little longer and at about 09:30 we were on our way to visit Roppongi Hills. We went there with first the Yamanote Line from Shinagawa to Ebisu and for. There we took de Tokyo Subway (the Hibiya Line) to Roppongi Station.

Roppongi Hills is a New Urban Centre and one of Japan’s largest integrated property developments, located in the Roppongi district if Minato, Tokyo. Main goal for us going there was to visit the 238 meter high Mori Tower and its Observation Deck. After buying our admission ticket we took the elevator to the 52nd floor. From the 52nd floor we had a beautiful view over Tokyo and also saw the Tokyo Tower. Sander took some pictures but it is always a bit difficult to make good pictures through glass. At 11:00 the open-air rooftop opened and we took the elevator to the 54th floor to take pictures from the rooftop/helicopter pad. The views were amazing and there were almost no people there.

After Roppongi Hills it was time for lunch and today we took the Hibiya Line and Yamanote Line back to Osaki Station. We had lunch at the Gate City Osaki which is a complex with a lot of different cafe’s and restaurants. Today we went for some noodle soup with rice and chicken.

Because the weather was so great today and the sun was shining we went to see the Imperial Palace East Gardens. We took the Yamanote Line to Tokyo Station. The main station facade from Tokyo Station is brick-built and looks a lot like Amsterdam Central Station.

After a 10-minute walk we arrived at the Imperial Gardens. These gardens belong to the former Edo Castle. Edo Castle was the residence of the Tokugawa shogun who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867. Emperor Mejia also resided there from 1868 to 1888 before moving  to the newly constructed Imperial Palace.

We visited the Tokagakudo Music Hall, the Tenshudai Donjon Base and the Ninimaru Gardens. Unfortunately there were only a couple of cherry blossoms out yet, but we could get a couple. Ice pictures. Finally we saw the Nijubashi Bridge. The bridge is one the most photographed scenes in Japan.

At the end of the afternoon we walked through Hibiya Park and bought ourselves some Starbucks with a delicious piece of Caramel Macchiato Cake. We discovered that this Starbucks was next to the Toranomon Subway Station and from we took the Ginza Line to Omote-Sando and transferred to the Chiyoda Line to Meiji-Jingumae to do some shopping. In this area you find stores by Tommy Hilfiger, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, H&M and many many more.

Slowly it was getting dark outside and it was time to go look for a place to have dinner. We took the Ginza Line to Shibuya and after some walking around we found a nice little place where we ordered dinner again from pictures and an English menu (I think they translated their menu on Google-Translate). We got some Skewwers with rice and of course a cold beer. For dessert we had a donut from Krispy Kreme Donuts and some ice-cream Baskin Robbins. At Baskin Robbins they have the funniest ice-cream flavours.

We took the Yamanote Line back to our hotel and one station before Shinagawa Station the subway was almost empty. Sander thought this really uncommon for a Tokyo train/subway let’s take a picture. In the meanwhile a friendly Japanese man told me that the train was ending at this station and that we should take the next train to Shinagawa Station. Luckily we were not the only ones sitting in the train, also some Japanese people were still sitting in the train. After a couple of seconds the next train arrived at Osaki Station and brought is back to Shinagawa Station.